Introduction
Marketing is one of the most important activities in an organization. This is more so in the contemporary world where the market has been characterized by a very high level of competition. The main goal of any organization is to maximize its sales. This is because the level of sales is the major criteria that determine the profitability of an organization. Therefore, marketing is of great importance to an organization.
Promotion mix refers to the various methods and choices which an organization has to make in its attempt to bring its product or service to the market (Mind Tools 2011). This process can clearly be expressed through the concept of 4p’s which stands for product, place, price and promotion. This framework provides guidance on how an organization can market its product effectively.
Product in this case is the services or tangible products that are produced in an organization. An organization has to make several decisions on the product. These include the safety of their product to consumers, brand name, quality, packaging among others.
Place is all about the distribution of the product. It ensures that the product is available to the customer on the right place in the right time. Some of distribution decisions include market coverage, transportation, ordering, and distribution centers among others. Price is also an important part in marketing.
Some of the price decisions that can be used in marketing include the volume discounts, price discrimination, retail prices as well as seasonal pricing. Promotion involves the process of communicating to the consumers about the product. It is aimed at building positive attitudes towards the product. These may involve advertisement, sales promotion, personal selling or marketing communication.
Apple Inc is one of the most successful organizations in the world. This success can be attributed to its effective marketing strategy. Ipad2 is the second generation computer which has been designed and marketed by the company.
Product
In order for the product to perform well in the market, it should be beneficial to the consumers. For any organization to maximize its sales, its product must be stronger when compared with the products or services provided by its competitors.
There are several ways through which an organization can modify its product in order to improve its competitiveness. One of the most common methods is through differentiation. Through differentiation, an organization manages to make its product unique from other similar products provided by their competitors in the market.
Ipod2 has several features that make it unique from others especially those provided by its competitors. It is very thin and therefore it is more portable than the other products. This attracts a significant number of customers because most people do not like carrying gorgeous electronic devices.
This product also has batteries which can last for more than ten hours (GJ56 2011). This attribute attracts a large number of customers because it can be used for instance when one is traveling places where they can’t access the power. These unique characteristics win a significantly large number of customers in the market. It also helps in differentiating the product from the similar products provided by its competitors.
Place
In order for an organization to maintain a high level of sales, it must ensure that the product and services are always available and always accessible to both existing and potential customers. For an organization to ensure that its product is available to its customers in the right place and in the right time, it needs to have a clear distribution strategy.
An organization must include the strategies which ensure that the company’s goods and services are available to their customers in the right place and in the right time. Inefficiencies like shortages are likely to discourage the customers and an organization may lose some of them in the process.
Apple Inc is very much determined to ensure that its products are available at the right time and in the right place to its customers in order to avoid unnecessary shortages. For instance, ipad2 is available in all places where other Apple Inc products are sold.
There are significant numbers of retail outlets that sell a wide variety of Apple products. Therefore, it is very easy for the customers to access ipad2 from anywhere. For instance, there are very many Apple stores in the United States. There are also more than 300 Apple stores all over the world from which one can get this product (Apple Inc 2011).
Price
The price of product is also of great significance. It is important for an organization to decide on whether the product or service will either cover the costs of production only or give some allowance for profits. According to the law of demand, when the prices are high, the level of the quantity demanded is relatively lower.
On the other hand, when prices are low, the level of the quantity demanded is higher. It is also important to note that both the level of prices and sales are major determinant of the level of profits an organization makes. This clearly indicates that prices have an important role in marketing. If an organizations sets price levels which are beyond the level in the market, then it will more likely lose its customers to its competitors.
Prices can make an organization fail or perform well in its marketing (The Times 100. 2011). On the other hand, too low prices can dip an organization into losses. Therefore, an organization must be very keen in setting its prices. Prices play a significant role in the marketing process. According to Becatti (2007), pricing is one of the key factors in marketing.
Process plays a pivotal role in determining the realization of the organization’s objectives. However, the pricing is largely determined by the life cycle of the product in question as well as the objectives for the sales turnover. In addition, the pricing will also largely depend on the market share.
Apple Inc has an effective marketing strategy for its products. This has contributed in expanding its market share. The company has been providing consumer friendly prices which has helped in developing good relationship with its customers.
For instance, since the release of Ipad2 in March, the product has recorded a good performance in the market. Soon after the release of ipad2 in March, its price was cut by 5% in United Kingdom to $399 (Anonymous 2011). The company also promised even cheaper prices after increases in the value added tax. In other words, the company has applied all the necessary effort to ensure that it cuts the prices for the ipad2 as much as possible. This increases the attractiveness of the product hence maximizing the level of sales.
Promotion
Promotion is another important component in the marketing mix. It is through promotion that an organization is able to expose its service or product to the members of the public. Through promotion, an organization manages to increase the visibility of its product or service. This practice plays a pivotal role in marketing because customers cannot buy things they are not aware of. They should be informed in order to make appropriate decisions.
One of the main ways through which an organization can do this is through advertisement. Through promotion, an organization pushes its product into the market. An organization can do this through various ways like offering discounts for its product. This is one way of marketing its products in the market. By offering discounts, an organization may attract new customers and also retain the existing customers at the same time (Tuto2 2011).
Over the past, Apple recorded a good track of heavy and effective advertisement and promotion of its products across the world. This has helped the company to maintain a high level of sales for its products.
This product has been successfully marketed through internet advertisement (WebProNews 2011). This is one of the most effective marketing methods in terms of costs and the number of people it can reach. Ipad2 has also been advertised through TV which has also helped in selling the product.
Target market
In any marketing operations, it is important to identify the target market for a particular product or service. A target market can be viewed as a group of customers having similar wants and needs (Moehlman 2010). Identification of the target market plays an important role in organization’s marketing operations because it helps an organization in developing an offering for the parts of the market which they can best serve. This identification is also very important because it helps in reducing operational expenses in an organization.
Market segmentation is an important stage because it forms the basis for the target marketing. Market segmentation involves the characteristics of a certain consumer group which affects their purchasing behavior for a certain product. One form of market segmentation is the geographic segmentation.
This is the form of market segmentation which involves the aspects related to the geography. Some of the geographic variables which are useful in market segmentation are the market density, topography, population density in a region and climate.
Demographic segmentation on the other hand is based on the social characteristics of a certain population for instance in a certain market. Some of the most important variables necessary in the marketing process involve the income, occupation, ethnicity, Education, age and the social class. These variables play a pivotal role in the marketing process.
Psychographic segmentation is a method of market segmentation which involves aspects like the motives, lifestyles or personality attributes. This form of segmentation seeks to segment the market based on how people live their life. These may be determined by such things like the most preferred forms of entertainment.
Apple products are used by a wide variety of people from different backgrounds and various demographic characteristics. The target market of the Apple iPads is mostly the prospective Amazon kindle owners (Cellfanatic not dated). One can access many things without necessarily firing up the laptop or desktop.
Reference List
Anonymous. 2011. Apple cuts UK iPad 2 prices by 5% to £399 and up – yet will make more profit. Web.
Apple Inc. 2011. Apple Retail Store. Web.
Becatti, F. 2007. Marketing Mix: Strategic Marketing Insight. Vol 25 Issue No. 7/8 I 2007 I R25. Web.
Cellfanatic n.d. Understanding the Target Audience for the Apple iPad. Web.
GJ56 2011. Review of the Apple ipad2. Web.
Mind Tools. 2011. The Marketing Mix and 4 Ps. Understanding how to position your market offering. Web.
Moehlman, M. 2010. Target Market. Canada: BeWrite Books LLC.
The Times 100. 2011. Marketing mix (Price, Place, Promotion, Product). Web.
Tuto2. 2011. Promotion – introduction to the promotional mix. Web.
WebProNews.2011. Internet Marketing and Online Business. Web.